Elvis in Swansea: You'll Never Walk Alone

When the bookies profane the King's name it's bad enough, but when it's at the expense of the pride of South Wales, that's just asking for trouble.

Brendan Rodgers, manager of Swansea Town FC (the Swans), quite reasonable took exception to the claim by certain bookmakers that punters had more chance of seeing Elvis than Swansea did of staying in the Premiership. Facing Liverpool in their last match of the season, already in the clear to stay up, Rodgers asked fans to don Elvis costumes in celebration and in an effort to harness the strange and mighty power of Elvis' love. Fans took it seriously, and Swansea faced a shortage of Elvis costumes. Said Carol Guy of Swansea's Mardi Gras Fancy Dress shop to the South Wales Post,

"There were people waiting for me to open up this morning, and I wasn’t able to have my morning coffee until midday."

Swansea City's website met the demand by offering a cut out Elvis mask to download (eerily reminiscent of the Forbes Dead Rich list Hallowe'en death mask). And while Carol Guy suggested Brendan himself ought to dress up, Wales Online went one better and offered a Brendan Rodgers Elvis mask to celebrate Swansea's mid-table non-obscurity after the club managed to defeat Liverpool 2-0.

 
The Liberty Stadium filled up with multiple Elvii of all persuasions, Dean Mack, Elvis ETA (we've had him before in Bundoran remember?), sang The Wonder of You, and with that kind of home support, the erstwhile Merseyside anthem, You'll Never Walk Alone belonged to Swansea that day.